Tools

You can fully engage in FOS using a smart device, tablet or phone connected to the internet.

The tools listed below include:

sites or social spaces you can use to establish your online presence and connect with other FOS participants and facilitators

tool to use and consider each day for the given topic

Sites and spaces

The tools listed below will enable you to reach out to other learners. Don’t try to be in all spaces at once or use all of the listed tools. Try to find out what works best for you. You will become more familiar with how best to use the suggested technologies as you observe others and ask questions.

If you are an experienced online learner and familiar with other digital tools and social media platforms, please feel free to use them for your learning and share with others so that we can all learn from each other. Groups might want to set-up their own collaborative learning spaces too. Use what works best for you and your group and let us know if you need any help, ok?

If you have useful discussions with peers in face to face situations please do also share what you have learnt with peers online.

Google+ community (essential)

We have created a FOS community space for all those who would like to have further, perhaps more extensive discussions than possible via Twitter, especially where you are interested in establishing networks beyond the timeline of the course itself. Anybody is welcome to join this community. Please note the Google+ community discussions are driven by the community itself and can be used by any participant as long as they want to engage. Everybody is welcome to join and participate in the discussions. All you need to do is add yourself to the community. You will also be able to use the Google+ Hangout feature there for synchronous meetings with your group and other learners. Please note, you need a Google account and to create a public Google+ profile to join the community.

If you would like to set up your own Google+ community to work with a specific group of people, you might find the following clip useful.

WordPress (recommended)

This FOS course site is built using WordPress. It constructed using pages and postings and it’s free. Think about setting a space up for yourself (see Portfolio below).

Please remember to visit this FOS site frequently to find out more about the course, how it is structured and what comes next. It would be useful to follow this site by clicking on the button Follow #FOS4L (on the right hand side of the homepage) and receive updates directly in your inbox.

Webinar tool (recommended)

We will be using an Adobe Connect room for webinars on the last day of FOS for the GIANT hangout on Friday at 8pm UK time. Please access the room in advance to familiarise yourself with the tool. In order to fully participate, you will require a headset and a webcam. To access a tutorial, please watch the video below. Please make sure you have a headset for the giant hangout and ideally a webcam so that we can all see each other.

Portfolio (recommended)

It is a good idea to create a digital portfolio for your reflections and learning as you progress in the course. If you don’t have a portfolio at the moment, consider using WordPress.com or another platform you are familiar with. Blogger or Google docs are good alternative solutions, but there are many other ways for can easily establish an online portfolio. A portfolio will help you collect and develop the evidence of your learning, especially useful if you will be working towards FOS points and a FOS completion badge.

We encourage you to comment on posts contributed by other participants. Remember to add the #FOS4L hashtag to your titles and connect your portfolio to your Twitter account (see social media settings in your dashboard) so that when posting something linked to FOS it is shared more widely with others.

Twitter (recommended)

We will use Twitter as an additional communication channel. Please create a Twitter account if you don’t have one already and start checking the hashtag #FOS4L. The course Twitter feed will also be displayed on the the homepage of the FOS site. If you need help, please use the hashtag #FOS4L. Peers and facilitators are here to help.

Google doc (recommended)

Google docs are useful for completing specific learning tasks, particularly when working with others. You can also use it as a learning portfolio tool.

Google + Hangout (recommended)

Create a Google + account, if you don’t already have one, so that you can organise and participate in Google + Hangouts for synchronous video meetings with others.

Cred.ly (if claiming badges)

If you intend to work towards gaining open badges on this course you will be need to setup a Credly account at http://cred.ly The email used to set up this accounts needs to be used to claim a badge. Badges are personal to you via this email address and cannot be transferred to a different email address. The badges you gain here will be grouped with other badges you have earned through the Cred.ly website for other activities including CPD.